Six Flemish teenagers are under investigation after failing to assist a 15-year-old who experienced an ecstasy overdose and later died from it, after they failed to call an ambulance for hours, according to reports this Monday.
“They did not do what was necessary to help him," said Lieselotte Claessens, of the Mechelen division of the Antwerp Public Prosecutor's Office. "They tried to rescue him themselves, but only called the emergency services a few hours later," she added.
The incident occurred last week in a park in Wavre-Sainte-Catherine, near Mechelen. A group of six other teenagers was present when the 15-year-old boy began to experience seizures after taking ecstasy.
He was eventually taken to the hospital in Bonheiden, where it was discovered he had taken too much of the drug. When the boy entered into a coma, he was transferred to the UZ hospital in Leuven, where he died on Sunday evening.
An investigation has been opened for culpable negligence and drug trafficking leading to death.
A 16-year-old from Schriek, a village near Antwerp, has been arrested under suspicion of supplying the ecstasy. He has been sent to an institution in Everberg, in the Flemish Brabant, by the juvenile court.
The other teenagers present will be questioned in the coming days to clarify the case.
Madeleine Fletcher
The Brussels Times
